The 10 lessons I learned from running a Blog

1. Blogging is real work

Those who have never run a blog before may see it as being a little hobby and certainly not a serious job. Let me tell you that if you treat a blog as a hobby, it will most likely never flourish.

There is a lot to learn, for example, how to develop your writing style, how to engage your audience, etc. Making your blog a success can be quite complicated unless you follow a proven formula like on Project Freedom.

WHAT MAKES BLOGGING SO CHALLENGING?

Most niches have a vast amount of competition

There is no one way to monetise a blog

There is no “magic bullet” for success

As a newbie blogger, it’s difficult to get traffic which is the foundation for monetisation

2. Blogging is an investment… of knowledge, time and money

So when I first started this site, I thought I knew what I wanted to do with it. I was wrong, I wrote a few blog posts and then slightly changed the niche to be more specific on being a help and resource to others. I spent countless hours planning what to write about, picking a theme for the site (which I later changed again), and writing.

Was it worth my investment? 100% YES!

Knowledge – I spent a lot of time learning so that I can pass my knowledge and value to my readers

Time – No business is fully automated (especially in the beginning) the more time you put in, the faster and better results you will see.

Money – Buying a website, hosting, courses, all cost money. Sure you can hire people to do certain things from you from sites like Fiverr (if that is a viable financial option for you)

3. You can’d do everything yourself.

When I first started this site and my other sites, I did everything by myself. It was exhausting, writing, creating images, publishing on social media, site maintenance etc. It was all new, and I wanted to keep my financial investment as low as possible.

Time equals money – Is it worthwhile manually publishing several times a week when there is cheap software you can use to schedule posts on your social account.

Trying to do all to save a few $$ could be holding you back.

Using free and some paid tools have saved me so many precious hours of hard work. Time is money, and the earlier you are able to monetise your blog, the more money you will make!

4. Burnout is real

Before I started this Site, I had several other projects all on the go at once. I was trying to do too much all on my own. I worked a full-time job, came home at 5 pm and worked until 2 am. After a while, this became too much.

When starting a business you have to put extra effort in, of course, but there is a limit.

There is a difference between staying up an extra hour or two to write a blog post and restricting your body to only a few hours of sleep a night. The more tired you are, the less productive you will be, and the quality of your work will be lower.

When I’m feeling burnt out, I give myself the “okay” to just take a rest and not worry about my blog. You are allowed time off, and you need it. Your mental/physical health is worth a lot more!

I feel like beginning bloggers are too hard on themselves.

My strategies for coping with burnout are:

•meditation

•Reading for inspiration

•Exercising

•Sleeping/napping

•Writing some goals/visualising through the law of attraction

•Getting outside

5. Your blog voice and direction will change, and that’s okay

When I first started this site, I was initially talking specifically about digital marketing and SEO, I niched down slightly to focus more on blogging and creating a business from your website. It’s perfectly ok to do this; you can change direction; more specific is always a winner.

If you look at my first blog posts, they were not very good, but I am sure they have improved from that time. The more you write they better you will get as you develop your own personal writing style.

6. Slowly slowy catchy monkey

As I tell all my clients in Project Freedom, there is no such thing as overnight success, no magic bullet. Even if you go all in on your blog, don’t expect to see any results for a few months.

When I first started, I had a habit of daily checking my Google Analytic and my Domain Authority. I was obsessed. Then I would compare against my competitors who had been doing this for years and years. This made me feel bad as I wasn’t catching them up quickly enough.

I’ve heard so many times, “slowly slowly catchy monkey.” Don’t compare the progress of your brand new blog to someone who has already been blogging for years; this is not a fair comparison. Further, don’t compare your blog to someone who has a newer blog than yours and think that you’re behind just because you’re not earning as much money!

Every blog is different and has a unique path to monetisation and success. Focus on providing quality content for, and you will be rewarded for it. It might take weeks, months, or even a few years from now. Who knows. However, just keep blogging at a consistent rhythm, and you will find success.

7. Building a connection is key to success

Through your writing, you must create a connection with your audience. Talk as if you were talking face to face with a friend. Be transparent and open about everything; let the reader see and connect with you.

Heres a tip: Write about things that prove thoughts or emotions

My networking tips are:

•Joining blogging Facebook groups and being active in discussions

•Commenting on blogs, you love

•Sending emails to bloggers

•Working on a collaboration with other bloggers (i.e. through guest posts, etc.)

8. Traffic isn’t the only driver of success!

When I first started creating websites, my goal was to create as much traffic as possible, and believe me I had some really unrealistic goals. The truth is, it’s not entirely about page views, but how you keep and convert the visitors. You can make more money out of 500 visitors a month with a great website than you can 50,000 visitors and a poor website.

Sure, traffic is great, don’t get me wrong. I’d love to get more traffic and earn more ad income. I’d also love to get more traffic and convert them into email subscribers and then on to sales.

However, I believe that working on building a rapport with your audience, so they know and trust you, this is much more important than getting high traffic. The majority of my income is from affiliate marketing, which basically means that someone buys a product or service that I recommend (and this is 100% based on trust).

9. Set goals and aim high

When I first started blogging, my goal was to earn £2,500 a month within my first year of blogging. Why £2,500? Because my dream was to earn more than my previous 9 – 5 job from working purely online. Even though Ididn’t achieve this within my first year, I do not regret setting that goal.

10. Keep calm and blog on

Finally, Keep blogging and make sure you are having fun with it. It’s difficult to do something for a long time that you don’t enjoy, and this will be visible in your writing style.

There are many haters / trolls in the world, and one day you are going to be on the receiving end of there negativity. Such as, “This post is so dumb” or “This blog post sucks.”

I learned to not let it get to me because these people are the ones who can’t or won’t do what I am, they are the ones failing and take their frustration out on others.Don’t feed the trolls, is my number one piece of advice.

Conclusion

These are the 10 lessons I learned from running a blog. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for the future. Tell me your experiences in the comment section beow.

Stephen is a full-time entrepreneur. He creates affiliate websites selling products and information products. Stephen created this site to document his journey and assist others who are pursuing the financial, location and time freedom that many desire. He builds websites for businesses and individuals.